Girls Night Out

Tonight was girls night. Girls night out. We try to do this around once a month, but sometimes it doesn't always work out that way. For instance, there are four of us that do this. One friend had to back out because her mom is in the ICU at UNC and she was going up there to visit with her. I almost had to back out because I thought I was going up to NY for my uncle's funeral. FYI - not going. So, the three of us decide that we are still greatly in need of a girls night and continue on with our plans.

The plan was to go to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. I had never been there before but both of my friends had (one time each). We arrived there at around 7:15 to a PACKED parking lot but were told it would only be a 20-25 minute wait. Well, one hour later, I'm ready to eat the picture hanging above my head and throw one heck of a hissy fit. Both friends had gone up to the desk (not at the same time) to check on the status of our table. We were finally called and were seated with a basket of freshly baked rolls that lasted all of three minutes. We immediately ordered our drinks and appetizers (and more rolls). The drinks came pretty quick but twenty minutes later, we still had not seen more rolls or our appetizers. Next thing we know, our salads are arriving. Where are the appetizers? Oh, waitress-with-attitude forgot to put that order in. Nice. So we were already annoyed with the long wait to be seated and the no rolls thing so we complained. She agrees to comp the cost of the appetizers but still serve them and lo and behold, the basket of rolls appears. We eat our salads and were starting to feel okay when the dinners arrive. Still no sign of the appetizers. All three dinners were wrong. I ordered the steak kabobs with rice pilaf with the steak cooked rare. What I got was steak kabobs charred black and no rice pilaf. Michelle ordered the beef tips medium well and they were RAW. Cathleen ordered the same as me except with her steak WELL done and she received no rice and her steak was only kind of well done.

Now we're pissed.

So, we call the waitress over and tell her how my order is way overcooked, Michelle's is undercooked and Cathleen is missing the rice. A cup of rice comes out, my plate is taken away and Michelle was a trooper and stuck with her meal. At the same time, I ask for a glass of water. Four hours later, I am STILL waiting. The appetizers finally show up. My meal comes back cooked perfectly but I have no appetite for the appetizers anymore. Michelle couldn't eat hers (too raw, I think) and neither of them wanted anything to do with the appetizers either. Now we're really, really pissed.

Our check arrived - still no water - and we were willing to pay but felt like we needed to tell the manager how disappointed we were. Now, me personally, I am a letter writer. If you do me wrong at a restaurant, you can be darn sure that I am writing your corporate office and letting them know. Cathleen was a little more bold and asked to speak with the manager. We told him how disastrous this meal was from the moment we walked in and were led to believe that the wait would be short all the way to the missing water. He agreed to comp the meals! Sweet! I would have been happy with a coupon for another dinner on another night. I mean the food was great - when it finally arrived and was cooked properly - and I would try the place again.

So leaving the restaurant only $3 lighter (the waitress totally sucked but deserved a little something for her effort), we headed over to the local supermarked to pick out desserts and then headed back to my house to chill out and just gab. I highly recommend this to all you ladies out there. Take a night to just sit around and relax and just talk. Michael was in bed, Nick was outside talking on the phone, Frank was out jamming with the band, I mean, we practically had the entire place to ourselves and it was wonderful.

Hopefully, your night out won't include such outrageously incompetent service but all in all, it was a night out with my girls. There was no way it could be bad.